Our Juris Doctor (J.D.) program is a comprehensive legal education designed to equip our students for a successful career wherever and however they choose to practice. An extensive course selection, professional skills training, clinical opportunities, and co-curricular activities add up to a rich, rewarding, and relevant academic program.

To receive a J.D. degree, a student must earn at least 87 semester hours of credit while maintaining a G.P.A. of at least 2.5. Students may earn their degrees in either a six-semester, full-time day program or an eight-semester, part-time, evening program. Courses are offered in two academic-year semesters and one annual summer session. Both day and evening semesters run from August to mid-December and January to mid-May.

Courses in both divisions are scheduled Monday through Friday. All students should be prepared to devote a significant amount of time to their studies. The law school maintains a smaller-than-average student: faculty ratio (approximately 10.5:1) to maximize student and faculty interchange.

First Year Curriculum

Our recently modernized first-year curriculum is prescribed for all students.  Two courses, Civil Procedure and Contracts, include practicum components to facilitate integration of practical learning experience with coverage of legal doctrine.  Its eight courses are designed to develop a solid foundation and basic understanding of substantive areas of the law.  The courses are:

By emphasizing  the careful analysis of judicial opinions, statues, and other material, the first year curriculum helps students develop the ability to perceive a problem from many different perspectives.  The students learns to use facts and arrange a factual pattern into a legal framework.  The student also learns to express legal thoughts clearly and concisely.

By the conclusion of the first year, students should be able to recognize the basic legal dimensions of a problem and work that problem through to its conclusion.  At Catholic Law, the first-year curriculum is as rigorous as it is fascinating.  It yields a solid foundation for advance study. 

By emphasizing  the careful analysis of judicial opinions, statues, and other material, the first year curriculum helps students develop the ability to perceive a problem from many different perspectives.  The students learns to use facts and arrange a factual pattern into a legal framework.  The student also learns to express legal thoughts clearly and concisely.

By the conclusion of the first year, students should be able to recognize the basic legal dimensions of a problem and work that problem through to its conclusion.  At Catholic Law, the first-year curriculum is as rigorous as it is fascinating.  It yields a solid foundation for advance study. 

Advanced Curriculum

After the first year, our students are able to design an individual study program.  The law school offers a wide range of advanced courses and seminars, and we encourage students to construct a program well suited to their career plans.

To become licensed to practice law in most jurisdictions, a law school graduate must sit for and pass a bar examination.  As part of that bar preparation, students are required to complete Evidence, Criminal Procedure, and Professional Responsibility.  Students are also required to complete six "Bar Staple" courses from a a list of ten such courses.  These ten courses are Administrative Law, Agency or Agency & Partnership, Commercial Transactions, Conflict of Laws, Corporations, Family Law, Federal Income Taxation, Remedies, Sales and Leases, and Trust and Estates.

 

Dual Degree Programs

Given the strength of CUA's graduate programs, there are multiple dual degree options available, Individual programs include:

Part-Time Options Puts A Degree Within Reach

Many applicants desire to earn a law degree while continuing to meet the responsibilities of family life and full-time employment.   Offering a flexible and supportive four-year part-time option, Catholic Law is an excellent choice for the working professional.  Approximately one-third of our student body is enrolled in the evening division, and part-time students enjoy the comparable law school resources, including staff support after hours.

According to one current part-time student, "Having friends in other evening programs at D.C. schools, I find that Catholic Law has demonstrated a wider variety of classes and scheduling for evening students."  Another part-time students affirms  the achievability of the J.D. degree: "I have two kids and a full-time job.  But with discipline (and a little sleep loss) I complete every assignment and am prepared for every class."